Self sustained tank?
- Thread starter jon150g
- Start date
Yep, tank is 4 years old though. A RSM130 (35g). Wish that I could install a protein skimmer, but not worth the work. Acros are sensitive due to the water being "dirty". There is enough biological filtration to make it self sustaining. I never check anything. I don't dose anything. I just do a water change every 2-3 weeks. Broadcast feed selcon-brine. I drop of iodide a day (miss days that I am gone). Toadstool could extend probably 30+ inches of the tank was big enough. I am pretty positive it takes care of most organic breakdown. Anenome seems happy as well, given no skimmer.
Self sustaining in my eyes means that I dont have to have any mechanical filtration to process waste in order to sustain life. Self sustaining would be the ocean I guess. The only other thing that I know off is people with just an oversized skimmer that just top off with 2 part and never touch anything. Danh knows everything and never addresses the orginal questions, so he should have all of your answers..
I was just saying that to me, self sustaining means something that you don't mess with because it sustains itself. Not something you do water changes and dose. I see that Jon mentioned mechanical stuff and if that's all he meant by self sustained then it sounds like your tank fits that bill. I directly addressed the original question by asking him what he means by self sustaining. You're right that I didn't attempt to answer his question and that's because I was trying to clarify the question first. It seems like you feel like I was being rude to you? I don't see how I was and had no intention to be.
Phew cool. I'm glad it was just some confusion.
My 5g has always been like that. It's got a sponge in it but I don't really clean it. Just water changes and top off with kalk. That kind of low maintenance, like it sounds like you have with yours too, is pretty nice.
My 5g has always been like that. It's got a sponge in it but I don't really clean it. Just water changes and top off with kalk. That kind of low maintenance, like it sounds like you have with yours too, is pretty nice.
I would like to eventually get my tank to the point of no water changes and no skimmer. I dont mind a sponge or sock or both. But a 5 gallon water change every few weeks isn't really a big deal either. I like the idea of a completely hands off tank other than feeding and some other small things. Just wanted to know if anyone has had success with a tank like this.
I was thinking I just jumped into the hobby to quick with the 150 after tearing it down. Looking back I could have most likely left it alone and let it do its thing, but after having the small tank seem to do great with nothing but a skimmer and only checking peramaters twice in a months time. I feel like i was just trying to hard to make it work.
I also run an RSM 130 and have no skimmer or media to speak of. Not to state the obvious but I pull this off by having one small coral beauty and feed very lightly. I do run a sump to increase the volume of water and monitor ph with a probe. Water changes every month or two been like this for 7-8 years. Again, trick being no fish to one/two fish max and good flow.
Just my personal opinion. But, a no maintenance tank is nearly impossible, especially with hard corals (Julian Sprung has one with Chaeto and Mangroves as an exporter of nutrients, I believe its mostly a softy tank). But, at some point the toxins and nutrients build up and you would probably experience a tank crash. I think the best bet is to keep up with water testing and change the water as necessary.
